Overcoming Cold Outreach Paralysis: Florence Divet ☀️’s Challenge to Founders

In a recent LinkedIn post, Florence Divet ☀️ candidly discusses the common struggle many business leaders face with initiating cold outreach, contrasting it with their ability to handle high-stakes professional situations. Florence Divet ☀️ highlights the irony of being able to prepare a CEO for a difficult board meeting yet finding it challenging to send a single cold message without extensive revision.

As Florence Divet ☀️ notes:

I can prepare a CEO for a brutal board meeting. I cannot send a cold message without rewriting it six times.

Florence Divet ☀️ attributes this difficulty to the lack of real-time feedback in written communication. “Face to face, your brain reads a smile, a nod, a raised eyebrow, and adjusts in real time. In writing, it gets nothing back,” Florence Divet ☀️ explains. This absence of cues, according to Florence Divet ☀️, leads the brain to “fill the silence with the worst story available,” acting as a protective mechanism that can be detrimental to business development.

The Reliance on Referrals and the Sollo Challenge

The post further delves into how Florence Divet ☀️, like many experienced professionals, has largely relied on referrals for business over the past two decades. While acknowledging the value of these introductions, Florence Divet ☀️ characterizes this approach as “a lottery,” implying a lack of proactive control over business growth. This realization prompts a personal call to action.

Florence Divet ☀️, who regularly advises founders to undertake uncomfortable tasks, such as hiring before feeling ready or delivering difficult messages in board meetings, decided it was time to apply the same principle to their own challenge. Consequently, Florence Divet ☀️ announced their participation in the Sollo 20/100 Challenge starting October 5th.

For over 20 years, almost every client has arrived through a referral… It is lovely. It is also a lottery.

The Mechanics and Motivation of the 20/100 Challenge

The Sollo 20/100 Challenge involves contacting five new people daily for 20 working days, aiming for 100 initial conversations initiated by a written message. Florence Divet ☀️ identifies the daily check-in with the cohort as the most crucial element, stating, “The check-in is the part I trust most. In my case, accountability beats willpower every day.” This structured support system, combined with a “playful competitive streak,” motivates Florence Divet ☀️ to overcome the inertia associated with cold outreach.

Florence Divet ☀️ anticipates clear outcomes from the challenge. “If the offer lands, I will see it in my diary. If it does not, I will know by conversation 15 whether the problem is my wording or my audience,” Florence Divet ☀️ reasons. This approach promises a more efficient path to understanding outreach effectiveness, contrasting the 20-day challenge with the potential “20 months” it might otherwise take.

Every message I never send is a conversation that never happens.

Florence Divet ☀️ extends the challenge, inviting others who find initiating contact daunting to join the initiative. The post concludes with a direct question to the reader: “Who is the one person you have been meaning to message for three months?” This rhetorical question serves as a final prompt, encouraging engagement and shared progress in overcoming the common hurdle of cold outreach.